Rotating advertising device



June 20, 1967 m m T N W B P P E S BY W) ATTORNEYS June 20, 1967 s. BRAEUTIGAM 3,325,930

ROTATING ADVERTISING DEVICE Filed Dec. 7, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 76 /O4 F I G. 3 0g INVENTOR SEPP BRAEUTI GAM ATTOR NEYS United States Patent 3,325,930 ROTATING ADVERTISING DEVICE Sepp Braeutigam, 7291 Wittendorf, Germany Filed Dec. 7, 1%4, Ser. No. 416,532 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 5, 1963, B 74,538 15 Claims. (CI. 40-33) The present invention relates generally to a rotating advertising device and is more particularly concerned with a rotating device that is powered by light cells.

A primary object of this invention is the provision of a rotating unit that requires no mechanical winding or maintenance and which further requires no source of elec tricity.

Another object is the provision of a device of the character described wherein rotation of the unit will be accomplished for an indefinite time, so long as there is sufiicient light source to activate the light cells that are a part of the device.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a rotating unit which is highly intriguing and provocative to viewers since there is no apparent means for imparting rotation, thus resulting in a device that is calculated to arouse the curiosity and interest of viewers.

A further object is the provision of a device of the character described wherein the speed of rotation of the unit may be adjusted by controlling the degree of light present at the location of the unit.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a rotating unit of the character described that is simple and economical to manufacture in that the only required basic components are a pair of light cells, a coreless spool or winding adapted to be energized by the light cells and a plurality of permanent magnets.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings which illustrate the best mode presently contemplated by me for carrying out the present invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rotating unit constructed in accordance with the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the base which forms a part of the instance invention;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the rotatable cover part of the instant invention;

As hereinbefore set forth, the instant invention relates to a rotatable unit powered by light cells whereby the rotatable part of the unit will continuously rotate at a constant speed so long as an adequate and constant light source is present, whether said light source be natural or artificial. The device comprises a permanent base portion and a rotatable cover portion, the latter portion being adapted to carry advertising indicia and/ or displays thus making the instant device of particular value for advertising purposes. However, it will be understood that the instant invention is not limited to the use of the device for advertising purposes but rather may have other separate and distinct utility.

Referring now to the drawings, a rotating unit shown generally at comprises a stationary base portion 12 and a rotating cover portion 14. As will be seen most clearly in FIGS. 1 and 3, the base portion is of generally circular configuration and comprises a bottom 16 having an upwardly and outwardly extending outer peripheral wall 18 terminating in an outwardly extending marginal flange 20. Bottom 16 further comprises an upwardly and 3,325,930 Patented June 20, 1967 inwardly extending circular wall 22 having a horizontal step portion 24 and a centrally positioned inverted cup section 26 having a top horizontal wall 28.

Bottom 16 further comprises a member 30 having an outwardly extending marginal and circular flange 32 which is positioned on and secured to the aforesaid marginal flange 20. Portion 30 further comprises an upwardly extending circular outer wall 34, a horizontal top annular wall 36, a downwardly extending inner circular wall 38 and a circular floor portion 40, which, as will be noted, inclines downwardly toward the center axis of unit 10. Floor portion 40 has an inwardly extending circular flange 42 which rests on and is secured to the aforesaid horizontal Step 24. The bottom 16, including portion 30, may be constructed of any desirable non: ferrous material, plastic being particularly desirable since it readily lends itself to molding.

The flat annular portion 36 is provided with a plurality of pairs of depressions 44 each of which snugly receives therein a light cell 46 the axis of which is radial to the center point of unit 10. Mounted on the inclined circular floor portion 49 are a plurality of coreless spools or windings 48 of copper wire or the like each of said spools being located intermediate a pair of light cells, as will be seen most clearly in FIG. 4, and having a plus and minus connection to the cells, as at 50, 52, respectively. Thus, when any given pair of cells 46 are activated by being exposed to a sufficient source of light, whether natural or artificial, the spool 48 connected to said cells will be energized, all in a manner well-known in the art.

The stationary base portion 12 further comprises a circular plate 54 constructed of a non-ferromagnetic material such as copper, brass, aluminum or the like, which plate is mounted on upper horizontal surface 28 and is secured thereto by any suitable means such as nut and bolt 56. Plate 54 is provided with marginal circular cutouts 58 for receiving the coreless spools 48.

Mounted on plate 54, and secured thereto by any suitable means, such as cementing or the like, is a centrally positioned cylindrical housing 60 having an internal annular shoulder 62 adapted to act as an upper stop for internal plunger 64, which plunger is normally urged upwardly by spring 66. Plunger 64 has extending upwardly therefrom a shaft 68 having an outwardly extending shoulder 70 located upwardly of housing 60. The uppermost portion of shaft 68 has .a reduced portion which terminates in a point 72 preferably having mounted therein a jewel 74.

The rotating cover portion 14 of unit 10 comprises an upwardly extending conical portion 76 the apex of which rests on tip 72 and jewel 74 for rotation thereon. Mounted to the upper portion of cone 76 is an upwardly extending post '78 said post having a conical skirt portion 80 adapted to be pressed or otherwise secured on cone 76. The post 80 provides a readily accessible handle for facilitating assembly and disassembly of rotating cover portion 14.

Secured to the cone 76 is a plate 82 of spider-like configuration, said plate having a circular hub 84 secured to cone 76 by any suitable means. In order to facilitate the mounting of hub 84 On cone 76, the latter is properly provided with an annular shoulder 85 on which hub 84 is positioned, as will be seen most clearly in FIG. 3. Plate 82 further comprises a plurality of circumferentially spaced portions 88 each of which is secured to and extends radially from hub 84 and each of which terminates in a web or shutter 90. As will be seen most clearly from FIGS. 2 and 5 in the drawings, there are four shutters 90 provided, each of which is substantially equally spaced from the other. As will be seen most clearly in FIGS. 3 and 5, each shutter 90 has a depending flange 92 at its outermost extremity, said flanges 92 being positioned so that they extend downwardly over the top portion of outer circular wall 34, Plate 82 is further provided with an inner depending circular flange 94, said flange also depending below upper surface 36, as shown clearly in FIG. 3.

Mounted at the bottom of cone 76 are a plurality of permanent magnets 96, each of which is inclined to correspond to the plane of inclination of the spools 48, as will be seen most clearly in FIG. 3. It will be noted that one magnet is provided to correspond with each shutter 90 and each magnet is centrally positioned with respect to its respective shutter. It will further be noted that the magnets are elevated with respect to the spools 48 that are positioned so as to extend substantially thereover.

In order to provide additional area for receiving advertising indicia, displays and the like, the depending marginal flanges 92 may have secured thereto a circular strip of cardboard or the like, as shown at 98. In addition, a truncated pyramid 100, also preferably of cardboard or the like, may be mounted on plate 82, on said pyramid having an opening 102 at its upper extremity for receiving therethrough handle 78. For reasons which will hereinafter become apparent, it is important that the base portion of pyramid 166 not obscure the openings between shutters 90 located over light cells 46. It will be understood that the strip 98 and the surfaces of pyramid 100 may be covered with any desired advertising indicia or the like or may have mounted thereon, by any suitable means, articles for display.

It is important to note that each pair of light cells 46 is not equally spaced from the next adjacent pair, as will be seen most clearly in FIG. 4. The reason for this is that the positioning of the pairs of light cells, and the size and positioning of the shutters 90 is such that when one pair of light cells is sufliciently exposed to light, no other pair of light cells will be so exposed. Thus, at any given time, one pair of light cells, and one pair only, will be sufficiently exposed to light in order to activate the cells and hence energize the spool or winding 48 associated therewith. Thus, When rotating cover part 14 is positioned on base 12, it being understood that the only engagement is the gravitational positioning of the apex of cone 76 on jewel 74 carried at the tip 72 of shaft 68. This results in a mounting having minimal friction during rotation of part 14. Since, as aforedescribed, the relation between shutters 9t) and the light cells 46 is such that at all times one pair of light cells and one pair only of light cells is sufliciently exposed to surrounding light so as to be energized, there will always be one spool 48 energized. Energization of one of the spools 43 creates an electrical field which attracts the permanent magnet 96 located most closely adjacent on one side and which repels the permanent magnet 96 located most closely adjacent on its other side. This, of course, causes rotation of part 14 with respect to base 12 and as part 14 rotates, its shutters 90 now proceed to cover the pair of light cells that were originally exposed and at the same time to expose the next adjacent pair, thus resulting in continuous and sequential energization of the spools 48. This, in turn, results in continuous attraction and repulsion of the permanent magnets 96 thereby causing continuous rotation of part 14. Actually, the instant invention is operative with only one pair of light cells 46 and one spool 48 being used but a lesser speed of rotation will result since the spool will be intermittently energized and de-energized whereas where a plurality of spools are used, one of the spools is always energized, as aforedescribed.

The aforedescribed plate 54 functions as an eddy current brake to reduce the speed of rotation of part 14, this being particularly important where an extremely bright source of light is present, and also where a plurality of pairs of light cells and spools are employed, as illustrated in the instant case. In this connection it will be understood that the speed of rotation of part 14 will be dependent on the degree of light present and hence by controlling the light, it is possible to cont-r01 the speed of rotation. It has been found that the inclined disposition of spools 48 and 96 result in better magnetic attraction and repulsion thus providing a stronger and more powerful rotary movement. The flanges 92 and 94 function to prevent undesirable penetration of light to the light cells 46 when the latter are covered by shutters 90, thus further ensuring that only the uncovered pair of light cells will be energized.

In some cases it may be desirable to protect the unit to by inserting thereover a transparent casing 104 adapted to be positioned on the outer edge of flange 32. This casing may be of value both during shipment of unit 10 and also during use thereof. In some cases, particularly during shipment, it is desirable to force the casing 104 downwardly over the outer edge of flange 32, it being understood that the casing and the flange are both suificiently flexible to permit this downward movement. When the casing is pushed downwardly, it will engage the top of handle 78 to depress shaft 68 against the action of spring 66 until plate 82 actually engages the annular surface 36, This positioning of the parts will permit location of part 14 on base 12 during shipment of the unit.

It will be under-stood that jewel 74 functions as a bearing to maintain friction between rotating part 14 and its pivotal mounting at the top of shaft 68 at a minimum. Other types of friction reducing bearings could also be utilized where necessary and desirable, such as ball bearings or the like. Also, the absence of any separate bearing member would not be fatally defective to operation of the instant invention, although a greater degree of friction would exist in opposition to the rotation of part 14.

While there is shown and described herein certain specific structure embodying the invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements of the parts maybe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the underlying inventive concept, and that the same is not limited to the particular forms herein shown and described, except, insofar as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A rotating unit comprising a stationary base having a pair of light cells mounted thereon and a coreless spool connected to said light cells for energization thereby when said cells are exposed to a suflicient source of light, and a substantially symmetrical cover rotatably mounted on said base, said cover having a plurality of spaced openings therein of suflicient size to permit activation of said light cells when in registry therewith, and a plurality of permanent magnets carried by said cover, said magnets being circularly arranged in equispaced relation and being radially spaced from the center of rotation of said cover so as to be in a partial overlying relation, at least with respect to said spool during rotation of said cover, whereby intermittent exposure of said light cells to surrounding light causes intermittent energization of said spool, which in turn cooperates with said magnets to impart rotation to said cover.

2. The rotating unit of claim 1 further characterized in that said spool and said magnets are inclined toward each other whereby their faces are in substantially parallel spaced relation.

3. The rotating unit of claim 1 further characterized in that an eddy current brake is provided on said base to reduce the speed of rotation of said cover.

4. The rotating unit of claim 1 further characterized in that the rotatable mounting of said cover on said base comprises an upwardly extending shaft on said base terminating in a point at its upper extremity, and a conical housing extending upwardly from the center of said cover and receiving therein said shaft, whereupon said cover is suspended from said point.

5. The rotating unit of claim 4 further characterized in that said shaft is spring loaded so as to be retractable upon application of suflicient downward pressure thereon.

6. The rotating unit of claim 4 further characterized in that said point has a friction-reducing bearing mounted therein.

7. A rotating unit comprising a stationary base having a plurality of pairs of light cells mounted thereon, a eoreless spool connected to each pair of light cells for energization thereby when its respective pair of cells are exposed to a suflicient source of light, said spools being circularly arranged, and a substantially symmetrical cover rotatably mounted on said base, said cover having a plurality of spaced openings therein of suflicient size to permit activation of a pair of light cells when in registry therewith, said openings and said light cells being so arranged that one pair of light cells is always exposed while the other pairs are not exposed, and plurality of permanent magnets carried by said cover, said magnets being circularly arranged in equi-spaced relation and being radially spaced from the center of rotation of said cover so as to be in at least partially overlying relation with respect to said spools during rotation of said cover, whereby the spool that is energized cooperates with said magnets to impart rotation to said cover, rotation of the cover in turn causing sequential energization of the other spools.

8. The unit of claim 7 further characterized in that said base comprises a central portion and a raised annular portion extending therearound, said light cells being mounted in the upper surface of said annular portion, and said spools being mounted on said central portion,- said central portion further having a centrally positioned upwardly extending shaft terminating in a point for rotatably receiving said cover in suspended relation over said base.

9. The unit of claim 8 further characterized in that said central portion has a non-ferromagnetic plate mounted thereon, said plate having openings therein for receiving said spools and functioning as an eddy current brake to reduce the speed of rotation of said cover.

19. The unit of claim 8 further characterized in that said shaft is spring loaded for retraction when sufficient pressure is applied thereagainst.

11. The unit of claim 8 further characterized in that said shaft has a friction-reducing bearing mounted at its point, said cover having a conical housing for receiving said shaft and rotatably suspending said cover thereon.

12. The unit of claim 11 further characterized in that said cover comprises a plurality of shutters extending radially from adjacent the base of said conical housing, said openings being defined by the spaces between said shutters, said shutters having a depending flange at their outer extremity and a circular depending flange adjacent the inner portions of said shutters, said flanges cooperating with said shutters to prevent light from reaching light cells located beneath said shutters.

13. The unit of claim 12 further characterized in that a continuous circular strip is secured to the outer surfaces of said outer flanges and an upwardly extending housing is mounted on top of said shutters, the outer periphery of said housing being located inwardly of said raised annular base portion.

14. The unit of claim 13 further characterized in that said last mentioned housing has an opening at its upper central portion, said conical housing having an upwardly extending post secured to its apex and passing upwardly through said opening, for facilitating handling of said cover during mounting and demounting thereof on said base.

15. The unit of claim 8 further characterized in that said spools and magnets are inclined toward each other whereby their faces are in substantially parallel spaced relation and whereby the planes of their faces are angularly disposed with respect to the horizontal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,874,199 8/1932 Lingo et al 40-52 2,823,323 2/1958 Lamm 40-52 X 3,086,146 4/1963 Edler.

EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. W. GRIEB, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A ROTATING UNIT COMPRISING A STATIONARY BASE HAVING A PAIR OF LIGHT CELLS MOUNTED THEREON AND A CORELESS SPOOL CONNECTED TO SAID LIGHT CELLS FOR ENERGIZATION THEREBY WHEN SAID CELLS ARE EXPOSED TO A SUFFICIENT SOURCE OF LIGHT, AND A SUBSTANTIALLY SYMMETRICAL COVER ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BASE, SAID COVER HAVING A PLURALITY OF SPACED OPENINGS THEREIN OF SUFFICIENT SIZE TO PERMIT ACTIVATION OF SAID LIGHT CELLS WHEN IN REGISTRY THEREWITH, AND A PLURALITY OF PERMANENT MAGNETS CARRIED BY SAID COVER, SAID MAGNETS BEING CIRCULARLY ARRANGED IN EQUISPACED RELATION AND BEING RADIALLY SPACED FROM THE CENTER OF ROTATION OF SAID COVER SO AS TO BE IN A PARTIAL OVERLYING RELATION, AT LEAST WITH RESPECT TO SAID SPOOL DURING ROTATION OF SAID COVER, WHEREBY INTERMITTENT EXPOSURE OF SAID LIGHT CELLS TO SURROUNDING LIGHT CAUSES INTERMITTENT ENERGIZATION OF SAID SPOOL, WHICH IN TURN COOPERATES WITH SAID MAGNETS TO IMPART ROTATION TO SAID COVER. 